Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Right Age To Possess A Mobile Phone?

It has been a Yes / No / Maybe kind of debate with our eldest kid since the day he started Primary School. YS always tell me: "Mummy! so and so has an Iphone or so and so has a camera phone...blah blah blah!". Most of the times, I will tell him to drop the idea of owning a mobile phone. He can always call me from the pay phone located in the General Office.

Obviously I know he is not happy with our decision but he can't do anything but to accept the fact that we are not going to pamper him with a mobile phone at such a young age. I remembered my mum passed me her Nokia mobile phone when I started University and I was so happy even though it was passed down from her. As for hb, he got it free when he signed up for a mobile line during University days too. I know many people are going to say, nowadays children are not like in our era. They are so used to these electronic gadgets and their schooling life is so much different from ours.

When YS was in P1, he will say:-

YS: Mummy, can I bring a mobile phone to the school?

Me: Why? You are still too young to own one.

YS: Because some of my friends can call their parents during recess time.

Me: Oh, you can call me using the payphone in the General Office.

Now he is in P3 now, he will say:-

YS: Mummy, can you get me a mobile phone?

Me: No, You don't really need it anyway.

YS: But last time, papa said MAYBE I can have it when I'm in P3.

Me: Then you have to ask you papa...

The final verdict is we are still NOT going to give in to his request. Now he stays back almost everyday after school and at times I am so tempted to pass him my spare mobile phone so as to allow me to contact him but hb insists that we should just wait and see.

As parents, what do you think is the right age for your child to own a mobile phone?

2 comments:

My girl in P3 has on off bring this up too. Each time I told her she can only get it at P6. It'll be better to give a non-smart phone so that the phone is purely for calling purpose if you decided to give in to his request. Kids nowadays will not be able to wait till uni days like us lol!

Actually there is no right age per say... it all comes down to whether there is a need for it. Maybe some parents need to make sure that they are able to contact their kids, esp after school, when they start their CCAs and have to make their own way back from school. As for what I will do for my son if he asks for it, I think it's hard pass him a phone now when he has problems exhibiting self control when it comes to playing games on the phone. I think even for those old school phones, he will probably find someway to play games on it if he owns a mobile phone. So likely I will postpone this as long as I am able to!